I think you get, like, one free revive or something. Mistui's face pops up telling you to properly do... something... The game I guess. I'm only getting through by the skin of my teeth and Essy's help.

Random thought that occurred to me upon waking up. I just realized something has changed in the way I ship pairings. (Yes I wake up and that's the first thing I think. Makes you wonder what dreams I have )

In the past as a diehard Ai wota I pretty much shipped her with almost everyone and have written her with a number of people, with my favourite of course being ReinAi. It didn't matter if it was unlikely. I could make it work somehow (usually)

But now as a Riho wota of course I still ship her with people (notably either FukuSaya or SayaIshi), but one significant difference from the past is that in my mind...these pairings have her at a disadvantage. That is, I don't actually see her getting the girl without active intervention from me. Reason being that Fukuchan works better with Eripon so far, and Ayumi loves Duu, so Riho really has to deal with serious kataomoi if I play things straight. The only pairing that would work automatically is SayuRiho, which is extremely disturbing and I don't dare to write it until after Riho turns 18, because the stuff Sayu says on her radio is nightmare inducing material...lol. I'm not kidding either, because a wota wrote in asking what if Riho invited Sayu to bathe with her (I don't know whether I should be afraid of or thankful for this question), and Sayu's answer shows way too much forethought. I know she's witty and everything and comes up with answers really fast, but it's still creepy how she managed to answer without crossing any visible lines and yet still break every warning alarm I have.

Back to the point though. Thing is, I have a sense that my favoured Riho pairings don't have much of a chance of it actually working out...and my current feeling is that I'm totally ok with this. Considering I write most of the new gen fic around here, you would think I'd take the opportunity like I did with ReinAi to simply spam my preferred pairings, gut feelings otherwise be damned. In a way I have, given how I have written FukuSaya on more than one occasion, and hinted at SayaIshi in a couple more. But the thing is that I have a feeling that I'm going to be writing more one-sided feelings type of story where Riho simply doesn't get the girl...and survives it. Hell, she'll probably be supportive. (Well, she works with them. It'd be painful otherwise if she didn't learn to move on. Moving on is crucial.)

Actually now that I mention it, one of my recent one shots, 5 Years Later, does follow that dynamic. I wonder what led to the evolution of how I see these pairings. Personal growth? Haha. I'm totally ok with Riho being alone somehow, despite my shipping tendencies. This is strange. It's as if the intense need I had before for reciprocated love that manifested in my Ai stories has died down into a muted "life goes on with or without" kind of peace. Is it part of growing up? Am I getting more cynical? I still enjoy reading my ships when other people write it (knowing 3 languages is a wonderful thing), but I think other than stories on crack I highly doubt I can write serious ships for Riho anymore. On the bright side I might write more alternative pairings that don't involve her as one of the mains. I find it oddly therapeutic that way. How odd really. My favourite girl and I don't give her a happily ever after. Hell, I give Eripon more happily ever afters in general (even if weird shit happens to her most of the time lmao).

But yeah, just some musings about my changes as a writer and shipper. So how does everyone feel about their ships? Feel free to go into extended discussions about pairings. I'm quite curious about what everyone thinks actually.

I write so many pairings based off certain events and ride them until it makes no sense in doing so. I have in my sense into belief of Harunan/Dawa as of now but it seems so awkward in thinking how they intereact and their ages are very close to each other and the weird feeling is that something will happen and the catch is that, I have it unfolding in my mind but gotta wait two years for it to happen in reality. My lovey/dovey couple

Then, I have the Berryz couples to deal with every so often but haven't been writing because of writer's block for them. I always try to add Captain for no apparent reason and my favorite pairing has nothing to deal with her. I feel hopeless in promoting my OTP because it will always bloom into a love triangle. Then again, Momo is a cursed person

I avoid the pairing people tend to promote and push hopeless or couples that make no sense at all. It doesn't change in delivery but it always brings confusion.

My other issue is trying to get Zukki into coupling without forcing it into someone. The blog posts for her are so indivudlistic sometimes.

@Essy anything dealing with Sayu needs a weird turn. Riho is going to get screwed over someway, maybe forgetting something for Sayu and punishment comes upon her (no preversion needed)

^I know, that's what MSF is for, with Sayu in all her creepy Pedobunny glory that doesn't detract (too much) from the fact that she's actually a really nice person underneath all that narcissism and wit. I have some ideas for Sayu and Riho but I'm having too much fun randomly throwing the 9/10kies around like rag dolls in a mad tea party.

I actually have an idea for Zukki btw, there was one blog post where I felt like she had a crush on Eripon (of all people), and I still can't really shake that feeling entirely. You could try something with that? Either that or I might.

In any case we can always agree that crack pairings are fun and I tend to be averse to mainstream pairings as well, with some exceptions. Then again, with me writing most of the 9/10kies fic on JPHiP I wonder if that doesn't make whatever I write automatically mainstream, seeing how I am the only one spamming stories (again, there are a couple others, but I'm the most prolific). Of course if you take the wider ficdom into account (like from other languages and all), then I'm not really throwing up any major surprises so far. MaaDuu, IshiDuu, SayaIshi, PonPon etc are as mainstream as you can get if you head into the Japanese and Chinese sites. I wonder what time will throw up eventually.

^ Eripon has come up often but seems unrequited for msot times with her but I intend in using her once in a great while

Well you are doing it the most so far as Rokun has been doing Berryz (well he was at one time) but I have those weird ones where I forget why I wrote about them. (Now thanks for an idea that just came up)

I can't read Chinese so it would be a miracle to do so and as for Japanese... it be a project of huge proportions but I will TRY really really really hard to translate. I also read some interesting stuff too which needs to be used but just how it will fit, ("playful" physical abuse seems to be the best course)

Sayu is totally different now then before, its not the Sayu when Koha was around or the After-Koha effect, a dare say "motherly" woman with 90% ojisan blood (it maybe the wrong words but seems that way to me)

^I've actually translated a couple of Japanese and Chinese fics for Yuuchan's benefit in my time, and I was contemplating translating some of the more interesting Japanese fics I've read, but it's a lot of work and I would rather write my own stuff at the moment. Maybe when I'm on a dry spell for ideas I could try translating other people's fics. Haha. Some of the things out there are really good! I wonder what else I'm missing with all the languages I don't know still out there. o_o

Sayu interests me. You can interpret her in so many ways and she's never boring. One of my favourite people to write in general. I have the same feeling for Eripon too, but less developed since the kid is still young.

So how does everyone feel about their ships? Feel free to go into extended discussions about pairings. I'm quite curious about what everyone thinks actually.

i like too many ships lol atleast for the momusu department. my main one's aigaki anyway and i talk about them endlessly ^^; but for the kids is like you can mix them with eachother and its alright cus they're so fresh and stuff... sadly i havent caught up with all their blogs and honestly after 2 months of not reading translations i feel like i'd kill myself if i tried to read them all @~@ (im like 4 months behind on ai's and im fearing to go back there lol) but im pretty happy that 9th and 10thgen have blogs now cus its opened a can of worms for ideas for alot of ppl, and we get to know more info..like how zukki and eripon wernt so friendly when they 1st started unlike now

i'd love to write something about those 2 in cute friendhip type way but i still havent grasped their personalities yet..and i feel like i wouldnt be writing them properly if i actually did it hence why i stick to what i know which is aigaki with ocassional side of gakipon. speaking of which i had a gakipon story too but i lost modivation to cont. it

it feel like lately i've had many ideas for stuff but i'm either to lazy to write it out or i just cant write it out the way i see it in my head so i just leave it alone ;3; its kinda frustrating, and the fact i started school again this semester isnt helping it.

^I use my commute time productively if I have to spend at least 2-3 hours every day stuck on public transport of some kind, I might as well stick a couple of radio shows on my phone and catch up as I go. Bonus points for reading the kids' blogs while listening. I caught up with Riho Deli last year that way. Batch downloads are awesome lol. The only problem with listening to the radio shows in public is that sometimes they say really funny shit and I have to try and control my laughter.

Besides, the kids only update their blogs at night, and only rarely in the day. When they do it's usually on weekends or if they have some kind of event going on. Pretty easy to keep track as long as it's a daily routine...I can't keep up with Reina and Sayu because they keep posting through the day and I get lazy about checking theirs anyway if there's anything interesting my twitter feed updates me because I've been following wota accounts who are also shippers. It's hilarious and I want to pick their brains for fic ideas sometimes I feel like that's all I use my twitter account for nowadays...lmao.

^ I only have 30 minutes both ways and most of the time goes into challenging my brain with puzzles (something to wake me up for work) If I was living alone, I probably would have the time but the family takes most of it

In the end, I gather from the posts but I end up using my own ideas and suit them to the story (probably the reason why it seems out there most of the time)

The selling point is trying to avoid the popular, add the male twist (it seems awkward sometimes), and hope for the best (most of the time leap of faith)

so this question just actually hit me and i actually cant remember if its been asked before or not(most likely has) but i was wondering when/if you guys get comments from your stuff what do you look/hope for? like just a simple "it was great!" or a way more in depth reply?

for me its mostly a mixture of both cus sometimes i just cant find the right words to reply or someone's already said it ^^;

I'm usually happy with JUST a comment, whatever it may be, because it means someone's reading. a simple sentence about the character, or how fun the story is, or anything, with an emoticon or something usually does it for me. enough to get my thanks

but of course, the in-depth comments ARE very much more appreciated, and i say "more" simply because they put in MORE time to write them out. "in-depth" being quote-by-quotes, or paragraph-format ranting about angst or something, or simple comments or constructive criticism on my writing style... I dont necessarily LOOK for them or PREFER them but i do APPRECIATE them more. because those take time and everybody's busy in the real world. It's amazing that people would write long comments about what you wrote. it's a great feeling.

But i guess i also do feel bad because i usually don't/can't give an equally long response back. i'm SO bad at organizing, like, i can't pick out the important points made that i should respond to and stuff like that. which is why a short comment is good enough for me

Spazzing aside, I generally like comments that tell me what the reader thought. Whether it made them sad/happy or if it gave them any ideas or insights. Because then I can judge how well I got my point across, and what kind of effect it had on my audience. I know what effect my writing has on me, but I'm not other people, so I don't know what they're thinking. Plus if you say stuff about what you thought might happen, you never know if I might just work on that angle because it wasn't something I thought about previously and I like the idea.

But yeah I generally welcome all comments because it's like the only indicator of interest apart from leaving thank yous, and it's nice to know people care since we don't get paid to write or anything.

I love just getting a comment. Anything. Affirmation keeps me out of the cold pit of Writer's Block despair. Of course, in depth comments are nice in that, like Essy said, getting insight on how we're coming across is very helpful. I also like to leave in depth comments when I'm not feeling lazy or burned out and if I am, I try to at least let the author know that I've read the whatever they wrote. The thanks system on this site is a god send sometimes, like when I should be working.

Remember when I was an asshole who held my chapters hostage with comments as the ransom? xD Furthermore, it was divided into 15 "nonquality" or 7 "quality" comments lololol That's so horrible of me, to give my own comments a point system... xD